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NADCP/COPS Domestic Violence Focus Group: Developing a Community-Wide Domestic Violence System

NCJ Number
180599
Author(s)
Sharon DeNaro
Date Published
1999
Length
34 pages
Annotation
A 2-day focus group took place September 17-18, 1998 in Washington, D.C., to examine the linkages between law enforcement and domestic violence courts; the group concluded that the police role in domestic violence cases can be understood against the backdrop of a systemic understanding of domestic violence and domestic violence courts.
Abstract
The participants all worked in jurisdictions with domestic violence courts and community-wide systems in place. Observers included represents of the Department of Justice and Columbia University's National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. The workshop planners identified several crucial components necessary to a community-wide domestic violence system. These components included the judiciary, court administration, clerk's office, prosecution, defense bar, police, corrections, pretrial services, probation department, advocacy community, and treatment community. The focus group participants challenged domestic violence court experts to examine each component's linkages to the court and to each other. They examined the use of a multi-agency intake center, the partnership between police and prosecutors in both arrest and non-arrest situations, community policing and other policing innovation, the judge's role, the similarities and differences between domestic violence courts and drug courts, proper representation, and the treatment dilemma for multi-diagnosed offenders. The participants also explored the benefits and obstacles to the use of domestic violence courts as a tool to address domestic assault. Findings suggested that each topic needs further work and input from judges, community-based advocates, the medical profession, treatment providers, treatment researchers, and other leading experts in the criminal justice arena. Appended agenda